Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Team Lead Metrics and Reporting
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Job Summary
The Farming Directorate is responsible for designing and managing Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. These schemes support farmers to farm in a more sustainable way.
We are looking for someone to lead the Metrics and Reporting team within the Evidence and Analysis function.
You will lead a small team of analysts, responsible for reporting, statistics and performance analysis. The team's work helps the directorate understand progress, make decisions and meet reporting requirements.
This includes publishing Official Statistics on the Farming Investment Fund (FIF), developing statistics that show how the directorate contributes to Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) outcomes, and improving how performance is measured and reported across the directorate.
We recognise that people with protected characteristics may experience challenges in the job market and in career progression. We want to make sure that everyone has equal opportunities. Defra has many staff networks and trade unions that represent staff and help to positively change how we work. We support flexible working and want to ensure that our staff have a good work-life balance. We provide support for employees with disabilities and health conditions. If you need support at interview, please let us know so that we can provide this. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups.
Job Description
You will:
- manage a small team of analysts and support their development
- help create a team culture where everyone is respected and valued
- produce, manage and publish official statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics
- improve internal reporting and make summary data more widely accessible
- manage, plan and carry out analysis using suitable methods
- develop and maintain reproducible analytical pipelines
- work with policy and strategy teams to present results and answer questions
- carry out quality assurance activities, including code reviews
- respond to requests for information, including Environmental Information Requests
For more information, please see Government Operational Research Service - Mainstream Recruitment - GOV.UK
Candidates should be a member of Government Statistical Group or provide evidence of meeting the minimum qualification criteria to join the Government Statistical Group. If you are not badged, we will support you through the badging process at the Grade 7 level.
Eligibility Criteria
The Accepted Qualifications Are One Of The Following
- a first or second class honours degree in a numerate subject computer science or similar field that includes statistical skills.
- a postgraduate qualification, such as an MSc or PhD, in a subjects such as data science, mathematics, statistics or physics
- a level 6 apprenticeship
- at least 3 years of professional experience in statistics or data science, supported by a record of continuous professional development (via a log book), at a level comparable to a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma (level five).
For more information, please see https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/careers/joining-us/#joining-as-a-government-data-scientist or Government Operational Research Service - Mainstream Recruitment - GOV.UK
Essential Criteria
You must be able to show that you:
- have advanced technical skills in R and use version control
- develop and publish official government statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics
- have created and managed reports and dashboards
- conduct high-quality analysis, whilst having competing demands and meeting deadlines
- have successfully managed analysts, statisticians or a technical team
- create a supportive environment where people can learn and perform well
- explain complex findings clearly to non-specialists and senior colleagues
- work effectively with policy teams or strategy teams
- understand GDPR requirements and have experience handling data securely
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Qualifications
If you are not currently a member of a Government analytical profession, please outline how you meet the minimum eligibility requirement for the Government Statistical Service.
The Accepted Qualifications Are ONE Of The Following
- a first or second class honours degree in a numerate discipline, computer science or IT equivalent which demonstrates core statistical skills.
- a higher degree, e.g. an MSc or PhD, in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics (this is not a definitive list)
- have achieved or on track to achieve a level 4 apprenticeship including at least 2 years in a statistical/data analysis field in government and are able to demonstrate continuous professional development in statistics/data analysis (via a CPD log book signed off by a manager or mentor who are members of the statistical profession)
- have worked in a statistical or data science field and are able to demonstrate Continuous Professional Development (via a log book) in statistics or data science at the same level as a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma (level five)
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Changing and Improving
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical Skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Data Analysis - Government Statistical Service
- Presenting and disseminating data effectively (Government Statistical Group)
Salary
Alongside your salary of £58,207, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,862 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Application Process
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV, 500-word statement of suitability, a 250-word behaviour (changing and improving) and technical question (data analysis).
Please use your statement of suitability to provide evidence of your ability to meet the requirements of the post.
Please make it clear whether you are a member of the Government Statistical Service. If you are not currently, please outline how you meet the minimum eligibility requirement for the Government Statistical Service.
Applications will be sifted on CV, statement of suitability, the changing and improving behaviour and the Data Analysis (Government Statistical Group) or Presenting and disseminating data effectively (Government Statistical Group) technical skills.
If there are a lot of applicants, applications will initially be sifted on the lead technical skill, data analysis. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, be required to do a technical assessment or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Interview
Interviewees will be asked to complete a technical exercise using R at the interview. The coding exercise is designed to assess analytical thinking, use of R, code quality, interpretation of results and the ability to explain technical work. Candidates are not expected to complete every task perfectly.
You will be sent the dataset and details of how you will access R one calendar week before the interview.
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The interview will be two hours. At the start of the interview, you will receive the technical assessment questions and have one hour to complete the coding exercise. You will be asked to remain on camera and share your screen throughout the coding exercise so that the panel can be confident that the assessment is being completed under consistent conditions for all candidates. You can use search engines and artificial intelligence tools to support your work, for example to look up syntax or troubleshoot coding issues. However, the analysis, interpretation and final solution must be your own work.
After the coding exercise, the panel will join. Around 20 minutes will be spent discussing your approach, code, assumptions and findings. The remaining time of the interview will consist of behaviour and technical questions.
Interview transcription: As a reasonable adjustment for a member of the interview panel, live transcription will be used during interviews. This will be used solely as a note-taking aid and will not form part of the assessment. Candidates will be assessed only on their interview performance, and transcripts will not be used for AI analysis or scoring. All transcripts will be deleted when no longer required.
The Civil Service is a diverse and inclusive workplace. We want to help you show your full potential whatever type of assessment we use. If you need any reasonable adjustments, tell us when you submit your application that you need an adjustment and how it will help.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.
Location
As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).
Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.
Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.
The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.
Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.
The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.
Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.
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